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The EKZ joint venture of Alstom (75%) and Transmashholding (25%), which is based at Astana in Kazakhstan, is supplying 40 Prima T8 AZ8A freight locomotives and 10 Prima M4 AZ4A passenger locomotives under a contract awarded in May 2014.
The first of the passenger locomotives was unveiled at Alstom’s Belfort plant in France in October 2017. The first of the freight locomotives have now been delivered from Astana to Biləcəri in Baku, ready for testing by Alstom over the coming months.
The AZ8A is based on the KZ8A locomotives currently in service with KTZ in Kazakhstan, modified to meet ADY’s technical requirements and comply with GOST standards.

For more than three decades, Rep. Jerrold Nadler has championed creating a freight rail line that would connect New Jersey and Brooklyn. While it’s an idea that has been discussed for the past century, the prospects of it happening are as good now as they’ve ever been, with the start of Tier II environmental impact statement process by the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey and the de Blasio administration’s July announcement of a FreightNYC initiative.
It would likely take until at least the latter half of the 2020s until freight would be able to move under the harbor – and one of its most vocal champions says acting now would allow it to be built before economic growth in the region would be curtailed by a lack of transportation infrastructure.

Volumes for the week ended August 4 were 570,995 carloads and intermodal units, up 4.2% from the same week a year ago.
Traffic was 279,907 carloads, up 3%, while intermodal volume was 291,088 containers and trailers, up 5.4%.
Eight of the 10 carload commodity groups posted an increase compared with the same week in 2017. They included grain, 20.2%, as exporters hurry shipments to Asia ahead of retaliatory restrictions in the face of more tariffs from the Trump Administration; petroleum and petroleum products, 15.5%, and motor vehicles and parts, 7.1%.
Declining commodities were miscellaneous carloads, 9.2%, and nonmetallic minerals, 1.3%.

Global mining conglomerate Rio Tinto marked the first delivery of iron ore by an autonomous train as part of its US$940 million AutoHaul programs operating to its port facilities in Western Australia.
On July 10 the train, hauled by three locomotives and carrying around 28,000 metric tons of iron ore, traveled more than 175 miles from Rio Tinto’s Tom Price mine to the port of Cape Lambert without a driver in the cab. It was monitored remotely by operators from the company’s Operations Centre in Perth, more than 900 miles away.

Since the services began in 2011, the trains have delivered 800,000 twenty-foot equivalent units (TEUs) of goods, connecting 48 Chinese cities with 42 European cities, according to CRC.
For more than 7 years, the services have been improving connectivity between Chinese and European cities, boosting economic and trade ties.
Zhang Wei, an engineer with China Railway Container Transport Corporation, said he has witnessed the development of the freight trains, with the number of trains departing from Southwest China's Chongqing municipality increasing steadily over the years.
"For me, the China-Europe freight train is like a kid. As it grows up gradually, I feel so proud," Zhang said.

By guaranteeing rail wagon capacity on the main intermodal routes in the UK, the new contract will reduce greenhouse gasses by 67% in comparison to traditional road transport.
In addition, ONE will save 180 tons of CO2 per day on inland transport, representing a 13% increase compared to when the three Japanese shipping companies - MOL, NYK, and K-Line - were operating independently of each other.
For all three Japanese companies, reducing the carbon footprint as part of their core values.
As ONE, they have taken steps to ensure that environmental sustainability will play a significant role in both ocean and inland transportation.

The service will operate on the 650km 1520mm-gauge route linking Tallinn, Riga in Latvia, and the Lithuanian-Polish border at Šestokai, where containers will be transhipped to standard-gauge trains. The service will be managed jointly by Estonia’s state-owned freight operator EVR Cargo, Latvia’s LDZ Logistika, and Lithuanian Railways (LG).
The agreement was signed by Mr. Raul Toomsalu, chairman of EVR Cargo, Ms. Svetlana Berga, chairwoman of Latvian Railways’ freight subsidiary LDZ Cargo, Mr. Eduards Cernavskis, board member of LDZ Logistika, and Mr. Egidijus Lazauskas, deputy director general and freight transport director of LG.

The project is being financed by the European Union with up to €35.5m in grants from the Western Balkans Investment Framework (WBIF) and up to €35.5m in loans from the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development (EBRD).
The EBRD has previously financed a €1.2m feasibility study into ...

C.H. Robinson has launched its trans-Eurasian rail freight service between China and Europe. The new service offering connects eight origin terminals in China with eight destination cities in Europe.
“The new rail line complements our ...